DJ Pasternak, Author

This poem came in the the middle of a sleepless night filled with anxiety. To dispel the mood I stepped out onto the deck and was greeted by the darkness interspersed with the lights of multiple stars. This simple poem sprang from the joy of the sight of the night sky on January 3rd 2022.

On October 21st 2020 I posted a poem titled Autumn Morning. Since then I have not written a single poem until January 3rd of the New Year. Even if my poems may not be worthy of becoming known beyond my journal and perhaps this blog, they are, I believe, especially gifted to me. When considering periods when poems filled pages of my journal opposed to periods when they were absent, I noticed giving time to silence and seeking answers seemed to open the door to The mystery of some bit of truth Flowing from the mind of Truth itself To an unworthy poet… * (From the poem, The Gift by DJ Pasternak )

First Poem of 2022

How beautiful is the night!
Cold clear winter sky
Aglow in darkness   
Do we gaze upon a world beyond in awe
Silent serene awaiting souls
Thrust into the forever of beauty unknown 
A world of truth to behold 
Given as gold to those
Yet wanting to know what awaits
In the lighted heavens
Seeking arms to hold, to love
Creator Comforter 
  How beautiful is the night!

Some years ago a friend of mine commented on my praying for the intercession of saints. She singled out The Little Flower, St Theresa of Lisieux. For her this well known saint did practically nothing; hidden away in a Carmelite convent in France from an early age and dying at the age of twenty-four. My only rebuttals at the time was that a book she wrote, The Story of a Soul, was one of the most widely read in the world. At the direction of her superior at the convent, who was also her sister Pauline, this little saint kept a diary of her life. The second thing was a quote that she would “Spend her heaven doing good on earth”.

Still this didn’t change my friend’s mind. I remembered this incident when I received another book this Christmas, Do Something Beautiful for God. It contained quote from Saint Teresa of Calcutta for each day of the year and also a short bio about her in the introduction, In the latter it mentioned that Mother Teresa who is one of the most widely known person in the world named The Little Flower as her role model. In the book the author says: Theresa (The little flower) believed that love is expressed through attention to the small things that fill our daily lives. Theresa practiced the small things that fill our daily lives. Mother Teresa practiced “the little way” taught by St Theresa.

Therefore, what did the Carmelite nun who lived an obscure, short life actually do? She influenced perhaps millions of people including one person who received the Nobel Peace Prize. The United States Medal of Freedom, and the United Nations Albert Schweitzer Prize.

Do Something Beautiful for God DynamicCatholic.com The

The Story of a Soul Free digital on line

There is something about driving a car, flying a small plane, a boat, an ATV… it is usually a feeling of being in control. At this present time in our country, the USA, do you have a feeling of being controlled? Our freedoms seem to be crumbling, our institutions unstable, our health threatened. We don’t have the controls, things are out of our hands and it seems those in control are not friendlies.

An incident comes to mind thinking on this situation. My husband has been driving a car since he was nine years old; not on the highways at that age but in fields where he lived. He always remained in control and I had every reason to believe that would be the case one sunny autumn day when he decided to take me for a ride in the car he built himself in 1960.

The body of the hot rod was a 1931 Model A Ford lowered and fender-less with a powerful V-8 engine and 4 on the floor transmission. Sound like I know what I am talking about? Not really, even though he has been ‘educating’ me for quite a number of years now.

Our daughter was excited and took a photo of us leaving and I would find her still standing in the same place with the camera in her hands on my return (this tells you it wasn’t that recent). As usual I’m getting ahead of myself. As we drove down the country road and stopped at the stop sign everything was going well. The engine sounded great. Then things changed as my husband pulled out unto the deserted county road and ‘stomped’ on it. We were out of control. The steering had a mind of its own and the little coupe seemed about to crash as it turned of its own accord.

The amazing thing I remember from those few moments was not panic, but peace (of all things), There was nothing I could do and I just relaxed and prayed, not in words, but in giving my desire to control over to One I knew was and is in control. And that’s what needs to happen now. Not giving up yet doing what I can but with the knowledge it is not all about me. It is about Him.

The car came to a stop on the crest of a small bank on the side of the road. The car. my husband, and I were fine, just a broken axle or something like that. He waited until a neighbor came to tow the hot rod home less than a mile away and I got a ride back with a passer by. My daughter was a bit upset and I admit I collapsed on the sofa.

You’ll be relieved to know the three of us (my husband, the car & myself) are alive and well and occasionally go out together on sunny autumn days. Just one of those things we are thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day

There is nothing like an autumn morning
Stirring hearts to lofty heights
When heretofore the laze of summer
Extolled the virtues borne of rest
Beaches, sun, expanse of seas
Lying down on sand and grass
Restoring mind and soul and body

Precursor for the time of waking
Icy mornings, falling leaves
Recalling other autumn rousings
Seasons of return to learning
Holidays and gatherings
Speaking of the wonders 'round us
Striking color, yet approaching
Starkness, bare with bark unclothed
Still, there is nothing like an autumn morning
Stirring hearts to lofty heights.

Picture Jesus and His Apostles, Peter, James John and Andrew, sitting on the Mount of Olives the first of several hills well known to Him. They must have been at an elevation high enough to view the Temple Mount. The Great Temple faced the east and sat in the center of a platform about 40 feet long, nearly 11 feet high on walls 12 feet thick. According to the the Gospel of Mark it was two days before Passover (Holy Thursday) and the Tuesday after Jesus entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

Jesus was teaching His Apostles in preparation for what was to come both in the near and the distant future. Here in Jesus teaching we also find words for our present time and guidance in answer to the question ‘What can we do?’

But concerning the day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels, nor the Son, but only the Father. … It is like a man going on a journey; when he leaves his servants in charge each with his own work… you do not know when the master of the house will return … and what I say to you I say to all: Stay Awake. Mark 13: 32-36 ESV

We each have our own work and must do what we can and are called to do as we pray and stay awake until His return.

‘”I fear all we have done is to waken a sleeping giant and fill him with terrible resolve.”

You may or may not be familiar with this quote. No one knows for certain who said it or when, but it has been handed down to us that it came from the diary of Isorohu Yamamoto when he conceived the plan to attack the US forces in Hawaii which took place on December 7, 1942. The United States was the ‘sleeping giant‘ the quote refers to. The attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor accomplished what the Prime Minister of Great Britain,Winston Churchill. could not. The US retaliated with amazing speed and six months after Pearl Harbor dealt a blow to the Japanese forces at the Battle of Midway.

What does this have to do with us today? Although an attack on the actual soil of the USA in North America is being waged, no planes of foreign enemies are bombing, no armies or ships are seen encroaching on our border and shores. The attack is not so much physical warfare as war on our traditions and culture, our moral values. It is a spiritual battle in our very midst. We in this great land of the free have been sleeping just as when we ignored the atrocities taking place worldwide in WW11.

Have we learned anything at all from what happened as the prophesy purported to be from Yamamoto proved correct? Is it possible to win over the forces that threaten our freedom, kill our children through abortion, indoctrinate through our schools and media, etc. Will the USA of today rally to take back the country founded on the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, One Nation Under God.

We are a divided nation and presently there are nefarious dividers from within. But must we be brought to the point of defeat before we waken? Perhaps when the opposing forces push us too far, increase taxes too much, cripple our economy to the breaking point, take away our right to property and to protect ourselves, pass laws to eliminate unwanted children and the elderly, etc etc, we will awaken to reality we do not wish to see.

What can we do?

Dearest Jesus, you have given me this precious gift to express your inspirations through words. Guide me today and every day to hear your voice and know it is meant for me to create with you stories, comment, and free verse to lift up the reader, whether one or two, or two-hundred or more in number.

Remove all traces of my own ego and of the evil that exists to thwart my efforts in this ‘little way’ of mine. I humbly ask the intercession of the Blessed Mother, my patron saints: St. Jude Thadeus, St. Francis De Sales, St .Thomas More, St Paulinus of Nola, St Teresa The Little Flower, St. John Paul the Great, and St Anthony of Padua: my friend, Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, my guardian angel I’ve named Rudolph, and others in the heavenly realm. Thank you for every gift and your presence as I write. Amen

(You might enjoy reading posts from May 24, 2020 and May 25, 2920 in order to appreciate this post!)

About a week ago as I was sitting at my computer, I heard a series of noises different from any I had ever heard. It sounded something like a tapping, a distinct and solid pecking. The sound was a series of these, a pause and another round. My curiosity aroused I followed my ears toward the entrance of my home. What I found amazed, delighted, and puzzled me.

There, framed behind the two by eight foot window next to the front door was a strange creature who immediately called to mind another incident that took place more than twenty years before. This creature differed from his predecessor in his prowess, sleekness, size and, I thought, age. The most magnificent wild turkey was pecking on the glass as if a favored guest knocking on my door.

He seemed ancient and regal with a grayish look, smooth, glistening feathers covering his body. Quite the opposite of that rakish and bedraggled fellow who took up several months residence with us decades earlier. We endeavored to evict that determined turkey with no success and finally threw up our hands and named him ‘Tom Cruise’. His leaving was like that of the movie hero ET.

My mind ran wild : Could it be him returning to visit? How many years do wild turkeys live? How long would he stay_______forever? And remembering the trials with Tom Cruise I clapped my hands and yelled, “Shoo!” He looked at me through the glass and turned sauntering away. And I thought, “That was easy!”

But to tell the truth the vision excited me and made me think perhaps it was a small miracle and our first Tom was resurrected to make me see another side of reality which is the forever we all seek.

Is our weather unpredictable? Sunny one minute and black the next. Chicken Little, is the sky going to fall today? Will the oceans rise & cover bathers on the beaches of the world? It seems the world organizations think so as they have named ‘climate change’ the greatest threat to mankind. I say the greatest threat to mankind is the fear of doomsday that is creeping up on the world.

How many young people, and children believe there is little hope for the planet? And if the youth think that way it may come to be true. Do we remember the great hope of our younger days. We thought anything was possible. Not everyone, but the majority were excited about the future and their part in it.

Wake up and smell the coffee. We are not in control of the sunrise, the orbit of the earth, etc, etc. We can have some impact on our environment cleaning up the air and water. Using all of our natural resources including coal, oil, wind sun and water wisely. And also the greatest resource, the human mind. If we look deeply into the gifts available, there is reason to hope. But we cannot be controlled by fear. The following Bible verse puts things in perspective.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end. They are renewed every morning, ‘great is your faithfulness’, “The Lord is my portion says my soul. Therefore, I will hope in Him.” Lamentations 3:22

­Hadar’s Son

­Chapter 1 The Journey

The time of the olive harvest arrived and I awoke at the first light of day and went to fetch water at the well. Lowering the goatskin into the cistern, I recalled the story Abraham told me a week ago when he came from Jerusalem. The old friend of Cousin Jonathan still lived in the Holy City with his father Simon, his wife Marianne and their two sons. He belonged to The Way and often related tales from the life of Yeshua, the Messiah.

Yeshua was known to associate with sinners even the loose woman from Samaria He met at Jacob’s well. As Abraham often repeated, the Messiah looked into the heart and knew the longings of those He met while He walked on the earth. He saw the ambitious, pompous longings of a great many Pharisees and religious leaders. But when He met the Samaritan woman who had lived with five husbands and now a sixth man who was not her husband, Yeshua saw an open heart.

Pulling up the goatskin, I saw my own reflection in the water of the shallow well. A picture flashed in my mind from five years ago when my family and I were baptized by Philip the Evangelist. My siblings were all married now. Only I remained to care for my parents. The eyes looking up at me reflected the strain of being tied to this place. If the Messiah looked into this heart of mine, He would see the yearnings residing there. I wondered if Yeshua would condemn the selfishness in me?

“Matthias, hurry. We have much work to accomplish this day,” Father said interrupting my day dreams.

“Coming, Father,” I said feeling guilty for the desire to leave my parents, especially since they were the kindest people and most deserving of my devotion.

I loved the family who lived here: Aunt Avigail, my grandparents and cousins, and also the family of Matthew of Cana who owned the groves where we worked. They were relatives of Cousin Jonathan’s wife Sarai, whom I never knew because she died before my birth. In spite of the loving family and friends surrounding me, I could not help thinking about what lay beyond this cluster of humble dwellings a few miles from Jerusalem.

A sequel to my first novel: Daybreak. The first draft 60pp to date.